Long, Westray Battle Boyce Papers

Director, Women's Army Corps, 1945-1947

The papers of Westray Battle Boyce Long consist of correspondence, printed materials, press clippings, memorabilia, and other items mostly relating to Long's service in the Women's Army Corps.

Size: 1 linear foot, 9 linear inches (approximately 2,800 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donor gave all copyrights in the writings of Westray Battle Long in this collection, and in any other collection of papers at the Harry S. Truman Library, to the United States Government. Documents created by U.S. Government officials in the course of their duties are in the public domain. Copyrights in other documents in this collection presumably belong to the creators of the documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Dennis E. Bilger (1973).
Updated by: Ann Rosentreter (2011) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and David Clark.

The Papers of Westray Battle Boyce Long contain correspondence, printed materials, press clippings, memorabilia, and other items mostly relating to her service in the Women's Army Corps.

Biographical materials include Long's passport, biographical sketches written for publications, and records relating to Long's service in the armed forces. General correspondence in the collection includes letters to and from relatives, requests for letters of recommendation, and congratulatory messages.

Press clippings from across the country cover Long's service abroad during World War II and her appointment as Deputy Director and later Director of the Women's Army Corps. Also included are some military editions of newspapers and English-language editions of foreign newspapers from the war. Printed materials in the collection include magazines in which Long was featured and publications for members of the armed services. A study comparing the incidence of neuropsychiatric conditions in World War I and World War II is also included in the collection.

Invitations and menus document the wide variety of events Long was invited to and attended, including events at the White House and events abroad while she was with the Women's Army Corps. Items from her trips abroad include postcards, an album from a visit to the United States occupation zone of Germany, name cards from events, and travel information.

The collection also includes correspondence and printed materials relating to Long's work in the insurance unit of the Rural Electrification Administration, her association with the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and her attendance at a homecoming event held in Rocky Mount, North Carolina in 1958.

Papers in the collection relating to the Women's Army Corps include correspondence regarding the history of the Corps, legislation and reports concerning the Corps, materials relating to the Corps's 20th anniversary in 1962, and rosters of Corps officers. Items relating to Long's service in the Women's Army Corps include correspondence regarding her various appointments, medical forms, orders, personnel records, and rosters of officers. Correspondence, forms, and printed materials relating to Long's application for officer candidacy in 1942 are also included in this collection.

More information about the Women's Army Corps can be found at the Truman Library in the Papers of Harry S. Truman (Official File 25-Y and 1285-B).